Depending on who you ask, the F1 Season this year has been either incredibly boring or supremely interesting. In some ways, it has been a little bit of both. On one hand, Red Bull won the Constructors Championship, and Max Verstappen won the Driver’s Championship with almost no competition. On the other, there have been some performances that have been quite a surprise, such as Fernando Alonso being in top 5 competition while being almost double the age of some of the other competing drivers. So, to prepare you for the inevitable watching of the next season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, here is the lowdown on the entirety of this year’s F1 competition.
Red Bull’s Mercedes impression: A little too accurate?
This season was nothing short of a Red Bull domination. An in-form Max Verstappen delivered them a record-breaking run of 575 points in the season, the most by any F1 driver, topping his own record of 454 points in the previous season. To put that into context, he played 22 races and made 19 number one spots and 21 podiums (Singapore’s circuit being the only one where he did not). Sergio Perez, Red Bull’s second driver, made second place in the driver’s championship (where driver’s compete for points) with only 285 points – less than half of Verstappen’s score [1]. Red Bull overall made 860 points with an overwhelming first place in the Constructors Championship (where teams add up their driver’s points and compete with each other), with Mercedes in second making 406 points and Ferrari in third making 403 points. This means that Red Bull made more than second and third place combined [2]!
Now comes the question: What do I mean by their “Mercedes impression”? Well, Red Bull won every constructors championship from 2010-13, four titles in a row. But Mercedes bit back, winning their first championship in 2014, snatching it away from the dominant Vettel-Webber combination with Hamilton making 384 points and Nico Rosberg just behind him with 317 [4]. This ultimately began the longest streak of consecutive Constructors championship wins in history, with them finally being put in their place by Red Bull again just last year. That’s eight whole years without anyone else taking it! And all credit should go to Hamilton, who stuck with Mercedes throughout this run, and kept the force of Verstappen at bay until Red Bull finally broke through. Lewis Hamilton averaged over 380 points per season throughout that reign, and over 3000 points overall, with Nico Rosberg and Valterri Bottas giving him good support from 2014-16 and 2017-21, respectively. They were the force of dominance for so long, the effort to take them off of the pedestal was almost herculean, but eventually the duo of Verstappen and Perez worked for Red Bull, and since Verstappen shows no signs of slowing down, and Perez has been reliable for 200-300 points each season (much like the Hamilton and Rosberg/Bottas relationship), we may see something similar from the British team in the near future.
The Fight for 2nd Place
Due to Red Bull’s dominance this season, the fight for 2nd in the Constructors Championship was commonly thought of as the only entertaining thing to come out of it. Mercedes came out on top of Ferrari by 3 points in the end, but at no point in time did it look like Ferrari was out of the contest. For Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton made 234 points, registering third in the competition with three podiums. It’s not a bad performance from him by any means, but given what he managed to pull off during Mercedes’ reign, it can be thought of as sub-par [1]. George Russell also did considerably well though, snagging 175 points with three top-5 appearances [1]. Overall, they accumulated 409 points in total in a rather even fashion. Although, when it comes to the two drivers performing evenly, no one did it better than Ferrari. Charles Leclerc managed to make 206 points with five podiums, and his partner, Carlos Sainz Jr., managed 200 points with two podiums and even a win in Singapore, the same Grand Prix being the only one where a podium spot eluded Max Verstappen. Overall, the two accumulated 406 points together, just short of Mercedes’ 409, and earning third place in the championship. The winner of the Constructors is given 14% of the season’s revenue and the loser is given 6%. To put that into context, the Championship earns around $2bn every year, so the difference between 2nd and 3rd is definitely worth something, and losing it by three points would cause anyone frustration [5]. It was a nail-biting contest between the two teams, and even though the debate of who really deserved it would continue, calling into question the amount of DNFs on Ferrari’s side, or the first-lap crash in Qatar for Mercedes, or a number of other factors. However, I believe that points are points, and the decision should be respected, no matter what the evidence might be against it.
Success for the Young and Old
When it comes to the old giving this F1 season something special, you should look no further than Fernando Alonso’s spectacular run with Aston Martin. With Sebastian Vettel retiring last season due to the end of his contract, as well as climate change concerns, Aston Martin’s decision to hire Fernando Alonso in his place seemed almost doomed to fail, as hiring a 41-year-old in place of a 35-year-old never looks like the smartest decision [5]. But alas, through the criticism, he managed to score a massive 206 points for Aston Martin, including eight podiums and thirteen top-5 appearances overall. It may not look like much when comparing it to Verstappen’s mammoth 575, but it’s an overwhelming majority of the points that Aston Martin got in the season. His efforts tell us that you don’t need to be in the prime of your life to achieve success, or the most fit you’ve ever been, but the skills to do so.
The old are not the only ones to have succeeded in this season, as exciting new prospect Oscar Piastri also had some fun in this season, as well as his slightly more experienced partner, Lando Norris. After a very controversial introduction into Formula One, Oscar Piastri was going to start his debut Formula One season driving for McLaren, instead of Alpine who had banked on getting him before anyone else. He seemed worthy of the job after making an amazing 252.5 points in the 2021 edition of the F2, a less intense Formula tournament, and was trained for F1 since then [6]. However, he had some big shoes to fill, as he replaced Daniel Ricciardo who, even though his skills were declining, remained a fan favorite among the F1 community. Disappoint is not something he did, though, scoring 97 points in his debut season, including two podiums, the best F1 debut by any driver since Lewis Hamilton’s 110 points in 2007, and consequently the second-best rookie season among current drivers. Lando Norris, with only a few years’ more experience in the McLaren pair, also made a hefty score, making 205 points in his fifth and best season yet, and somehow falling just short of Fernando Alonso. His 205 included eight podiums and 10 overall top-5 appearances. The performances by these two, managing to rake in over 300 points for McLaren, definitely makes them look like strong contenders in future editions for the Constructor’s or Driver’s championship [1].
In conclusion, this season, although thought of as uninteresting, had a few perks to it that one with a keen eye would be able to pick up on, such as the performances above of Piastri and Alonso, the neck-and-neck competition between Ferrari and Mercedes, or even the more obvious things such as Red Bull’s decimation of all other teams, that overall prove that this F1 season was not a waste to spectate.
Sources:
[1] https://www.formula1.com/en/drivers.html
[2] https://www.formula1.com/en/teams.html
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_World_Constructors%27_Champions
[4] https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2014/drivers.html
[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/28/sebastian-vettel-retirement/
[7] https://www.fiaformula2.com/Standings/Driver?seasonId=178